April 1999.
Gabriel Halpren yoga class in downtown Chicago.

My birthday celebrated with an architects’ tour of Chicago buildings in company with “man from Chillicothe”.

First unassisted headstand.

OK. 21 years later I still claim the daily headstand to be my fountain of youth. Truth be told, I am simply terrified that my body will “forget” how to get upside down in it. That means my spine wont get a vacation from its usual Hold-up standing pose. My aging organs wont get a lift !

OK. So now i’m going to abandon this post for awhile. Do stay tuned. I found Gabriel Halpren on line. He and I are still teaching and practicing Iyengar yoga this 21 years later. I am going off now to study his website . Maybe I can figure out how he does it. I always want to get more people to join me upside down. There are stages of readiness.

I do remember the two teachers, that day, in that beautiful studio. For some reason, I was the only student. Those two guys kept saying, You can do it. We will catch you . You CAN do it. And so I did . They did catch me. Then I went right back to my hotel room. I shut the door and I did a head stand. You may be next.